The report recommends that schools should be able to teach children and young people about mental health in the same way they teach them about literacy or numeracy.

The Commission is made up of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, YoungMinds and Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. Its report makes ten recommendations, including calling on governments to formally recognise schools as a crucial component of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health System in the following ways:

Schools should be able to teach children and young people about mental health in the same way they teach them about literacy or numeracy

Undertake mental health impact assessments to ensure that both schools/education policy and wider government policy and legislation are not detrimental to children and young people’s mental health

Ensure that schools are able to identify mental health issues and can easily signpost pupils to relevant support, either within the school or their local community, and have the accountability to do this.

Commenting on the findings, Baroness Claire Tyler of Enfield, said: “The report drives home the need for high quality, system-wide leadership from all those involved in delivering mental health services, which takes full account of what really matters to all concerned, particularly the children and young people themselves.

“This report provides a crucial missing piece of the jigsaw which bridges the gap between what we already know about children’s mental health and the challenges of making the fundamental changes that are needed in order to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.”

The Commission found schools and the wider education sector play a key role in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health System but that they often feel disconnected from the other parts of the system and need more support.

Dr Peter Hindley, Chair of the CAMHS faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Children and young people spend nearly a third of their time in school, so teachers are instrumental in supporting their mental health. With the right support from service providers and the right training schools can become an important single point of access for referral through to providing access to the full range of services.

“We can clearly see the positive impact where there is genuine integration of mental health services within schools has changed the culture and attitude towards mental health but in order for it to be truly effective, we need to see similar initiatives across the UK.”

The Royal College of Nursing, has warned better resources will be needed to fulfil the recommendations made in the report.

Fiona Smith, RCN Professional Lead for Children and Young People’s Nursing, said: “With at least 10% of children and young people affected, poor mental health is one of the biggest health problems in the UK.

“Current services simply don’t have the resources to meet this growing challenge and, as demand rises, those resources become more and more inadequate.

“As the report highlights, better collaboration between services could make a real difference, but we need the right staff and processes in place. For instance, schools have the opportunity to help many more children get the help they need, but without the right numbers of school nurses and other health professionals this potential will never be fulfilled.

“When funding is tight, we need to get the very most out of the resources we have. If better coordination between services can improve children’s mental health, this needs to be put into action – as soon as possible.”

Our Aims: About Us

To support users and ex-users of psychiatric services in the Manchester area. The organisation provides a forum for services users to have a bona fide say in planning and provision of mental health services.

Protesters in King’s Lynn fight against mental health service cuts

Protesters took to the streets of King’s Lynn to voice their anger at what they described as “continuous” cutbacks to mental health services in west Norfolk.

Mental health cuts protest

A protest march against cuts to mental health services and the Fermoy Unit at the QEH took place in King's Lynn town centre. Picture: Matthew Usher.

More than 100 campaigners marched from The Walks through the town centre before finishing outside the Majestic Cinema.

Peter Smith, former parliamentary candidate for south-west Norfolk said: “We are in the fight of our lives here.”

The protest was triggered by the Fermoy Unit, an in-patient NHS facility in Lynn for mental health, which campaigners say faces an uncertain future. The unit was briefly closed to new admissions earlier this month, but reopened last week, albeit with fewer beds.

Mr Smith said: “In my lifetime we have never had to fight like this, but what is the alternative?”

But Debbie White, director of operations for Norfolk at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said there were now no plans to axe the Fermoy Unit.

She added: “It is right that mental health services should be valued and funded on the same level as acute health services, and it is understandable people feel passionate about the Fermoy Unit remaining open.”

Labour party activist Jo Rust insisted the issue would not disappear. She said: “They have been talking about closing it for a long time. We will fight and we will not let them do that.”

Beth Anthony, 18 of Dersingham, said: “We are here to protest against the continuous cuts to the mental health service, we think it’s unacceptable. My younger brother suffers from poor mental health and has to travel to London... That is to the detriment of my family because we have to pay for him to go down by train every single month.”